Boyfriend Dungeon will have players dungeon crawling through lethal places, doing so with the help of sentient weapons. Spending all that time together is recipe for romance, though, and players will be able to take their personified weapons out on dates to get closer to them (as well as get some handy combat buffs).
Siliconera caught up with Tanya Short, Director and Designer for Boyfriend Dungeon, to talk a little bit about what drew her to create intimacy between a warrior and their weapon, as well as their thoughts on the current rise in lighthearted dating sims.
Boyfriend Dungeon helps players make deeper connections with their weaponry. What drew you to create this kind of relationship game?
Tanya Short, Director and Designer for Boyfriend Dungeon – What’s more important to a dungeoncrawling hero than their weapon? Nothing, that’s what!
What do you feel goes into making a good dating sim? In creating characters and connections that feel intimate and real to the player in a game?
Getting to know and like someone new is a great feeling. Dating sims offer a better feeling of growing closer over time, through different experiences together, in which they directly acknowledge the choices and personality of the actual reader. Personally, my favorite dating sims are the ones with frequent interactions and gameplay interspersed in amongst the reading.
What thoughts go into creating a potential dating interest for Boyfriend Dungeon? How do you create dreamy weapons for all manner of players to fall for?
My partner would probably prefer I not say this, but the world has so many different kinds of dreamy people in it! Most people are pretty dreamy, once you get to know them.
Dating sims have gone into many different directions lately (dating birds, tanks, fridges, weapons, etc). Why do you feel players want to make these kinds of connections with the objects and creatures in their world? What do you feel draws players to create loving connections with so many different things?
Well, some psychologists say those on one end of the diametric cognitive spectrum tend to A) believe in the sentience of inanimate objects, B) be more creative, and C) be more likely to be diagnosed with psychotic spectrum disorders, so… there’s one answer.
My favorite explanation is a talk Leighton Gray gave at the Full Indie Summit last week, in which she explained that looking at popular art today, especially things like Hatoful Boyfriend or Dream Daddy, art history places us squarely into metamodernism. I’m no art history expert, but I definitely feel my own hunger for sincerity combined with well-written humor is far from sated from the current set of games. More funny games, please!
What do you feel this kind of relationship option adds to the hack n’ slash genre? This exploration of the bond between avatar and weapon in a game where this bond is what truly keeps both alive?
:)
Why do you feel we seek intimacy in our games? What is it about these imaginary bonds that makes our connections to games, and their characters, so much more powerful?
Why do we seek intimacy anywhere? Humans are an inherently social species, so friendship is basically a biological need. We’ll always be fascinated by social bonds. Sometimes meeting someone new is the best way to learn something about yourself.
